Accomplishments

Already the longest serving U.S. Senator in New Mexico history, U. S. Senator Pete V. Domenici continues to be a respected leader on some of the most important issues of our time, such as strengthening our energy security, curbing nuclear proliferation, and promoting fiscal responsibility in the federal budget.

A child of Italian immigrants, Domenici was born and raised in Albuquerque. In the mid-1960s, he was elected to the Albuquerque City Commission and served as the city's equivalent to mayor. Domenici was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 and is serving his 6th six-year term.

Domenici is currently the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, having served as its chairman following a long tenure in charge of the Senate Budget Committee. Domenici continues to serve on the Budget Committee, as well as the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

When he became chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in 2003, Domenici put his years of legislative experience to work to craft the first major comprehensive energy bill since 1992. Many thought that the task was nearly impossible, but Senator Domenici gained bipartisan consensus and passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct).

This new energy law created incentives to accelerate U.S. development of its own energy resources-including solar, wind and geothermal sources that are clean and renewable. The law helped to strengthen the renaissance of nuclear power in the United States. EPAct invests heavily in new technologies to make conventional fossil fuels cleaner to use. And, in late 2006, Domenici engineered the enactment of a new law that will open areas of the Gulf of Mexico for energy exploration. This could yield 1.26 billion barrels of American-owned oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the near future. The Senator has now turned his attention toward building on this legislation to help strengthen our nation's energy security by unleashing innovation in clean energy technologies.

Senator Domenici has always believed in the power of science and technology to improve lives and make the world safer. As a leader on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Domenici has worked to fund and equip the Department of Energy's national laboratory system-including Sandia and Los Alamos labs in New Mexico-to ensure these world-class scientific facilities can carry out their nuclear deterrent and scientific missions. Domenici is a major proponent of nonproliferation programs, such as the MOX initiative to convert U.S. and Russian weapons materials into safe, usable material that cannot be used in weapons

Senator Domenici's commitment to science and technology is also exemplified in his work to make the United Sates more competitive in the global marketplace. He is a coauthor of bipartisan legislation to promote the American Competitiveness Initiative that would force substantial changes to promote science and technology education and ensure that the U.S. does not lose its place as a scientific and technological leader in the world.

Senator Domenici has also been called "the father of the human genome project" for his work to focus federal resources behind research to better our understanding of the human DNA blueprint. He is a nationally-recognized advocate for people with mental illness, and has worked tirelessly to build on the landmark 1996 Mental Health Parity law he wrote to obtain parity through fair insurance coverage for people who suffer from mental illnesses.

As one of the longest serving members of the Senate Budget Committee in Senate history, Domenici has a unique understanding of the federal budget process. The Senator is a longtime advocate of pro-growth policies such as lower taxes and balanced budgets and was instrumental in the passage of the Balanced Budget Agreement in 1997. Today, he is working on a bipartisan basis to enact legislation to force Congress to tackle the complicated task of ensuring the longevity of Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs whose growth threatens the nation's long-term fiscal health.

On the local level, Senator Domenici has been a leader in promoting New Mexico's economy. He has worked to ensure equal opportunities for women and minorities who seek to own businesses, and has been an advocate for Indian education and infrastructure improvements. He has, for example, also fought to make sure that New Mexico receives its fair share of federal dollars through the federal appropriations process and through programs like Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT), which reimburses rural counties for lost revenue from federal lands.

Senator Domenici is also a leader on water issues. He has been intimately involved in finding commonsense solutions to address the water crisis in New Mexico and the arid West, and is the leading advocate of better, affordable desalination technologies. He has worked to find consensus on difficult environmental issues such as endangered species and bosque restoration by working to protect the environment and address urgent water needs.

Over a decade ago, Domenici introduced the Character Counts program to New Mexico. Since that time, thousands of New Mexico schoolchildren have learned the six basic pillars of good character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Domenici is still heavily involved in supporting the curriculum in New Mexico schools.

Domenici has been married to the former Nancy Burke since 1958. They are the parents of eight children.